Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 31, 2015

Jul. 29, 2015

Students Matthew Jenkins Jaroszewicz and Zach Blumenstein start new opera company, Apotheosis Opera, with modest budget of $70,000; twenty-something duo, who formed company as way to create 'new opera nuts' by producing major operas sung in English language, selects Wagner’s Tannhauser for first presentation. MORE

Jul. 29, 2015

Jul. 28, 2015

Anthony Tommasini reviews Poulenc opera Dialogues of the Carmelites, performed by Orchestra of St Luke's and conducted by Will Crutchfield, at Caramoor Festival in Katonah. MORE

Jul. 28, 2015

Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim reviews first American staging of Ethel Smyth opera The Wreckers at Fisher Center at Bard College, part of their SummerScape series. MORE

Jul. 27, 2015

Zachary Woolfe Critic’s Notebook contends that new production of Wagner opera Tristan und Isolde, directed by composer’s great granddaughter Katharina Wagner and opening at Germany's Bayreuth Festival, features reinvention of King Marke character and makes bold statement about death of privacy. MORE

Jul. 17, 2015

Anthony Tommasini reviews Cleveland Orchestra production of Richard Strauss opera Daphne, starring Regine Hangler and Concert Chorale of New York, at Avery Fisher Hall as part of Lincoln Center Festival. MORE

Jul. 17, 2015

James R Oestreich Critic's Notebook appraises performances at Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in France; notes that highlights include Peter Sellars productions of Stravinsky opera Persephone and classical music concert by Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. MORE

Jul. 15, 2015

James R Oestreich Critic's Notebook submits that updated productions of Handel's Alcina and Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, at Aix-en-Provence Festival in France, both offer blend of traditional music and progressive staging, with captivity as theme; holds Entfuhrung, whose staging is inspired by Muslim extremist brutality, is particularly provocative. MORE

Jul. 14, 2015

Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim reviews concert version of Donizetti opera La Favorite, directed by Will Crutchfield and starring Clementine Morgan in title role, at Bel Canto at Caramoor. MORE

Jul. 13, 2015

John Vickers, Canadian tenor whose raw vocal power made him a legendary figure in opera, dies at age 88; Vickers' voice was praised for its singular intensity, and for its remarkable capacity to imbue even very quiet phrases with ethereal beauty. MORE

Jul. 13, 2015

Jul. 13, 2015

David Allen reviews Bavarian State Opera production of Richard Strauss opera Arabella, directed by Andreas Dresen as part of Munich Opera Festival. MORE

Jul. 1, 2015

Audience explodes with boos, catcalls and chants of 'shoot the director' in response to sexually violent scene shown during premiere of Royal Opera House production of Rossini opera Guillaume Tell; opera company says it will not change staging but places more explicit warning on website that performance contains brief nudity and sexual violence. MORE

Jun. 24, 2015

Jun. 23, 2015

James R Oestreich reviews Boston Early Music Festival production of Monteverdi opera L'Orfeo at Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center and Aston Magna Music Festival presentation of Monteverdi madrigals at Daniel Arts Center of Bard College at Simon's Rock. MORE

Jun. 22, 2015

Voodoo, 1928 opera written by groundbreaking African-American composer H Lawrence Freeman, is scheduled to have its first performance since its creation; production at Columbia University's Miller theater is part of joint effort by several music groups to revive an obscure piece of African-American operatic achievement. MORE

Jun. 21, 2015

James R Oestreich praises production of Marc Antoine Charpentier 1686 opera La Descente d'Orphee aux Enfers, which Charpentier never finished, at Boston Early Music Festival; notes that festival's increasingly strong opera program showcased this and other Charpentier works. MORE

Jun. 18, 2015

David Allen reviews production of Richard Wagner opera Tristan und Isolde as part of Longborough Festival in countryside near Oxford, England. MORE

Jun. 16, 2015

David Allen reviews performances of two Harrison Birtwistle chamber operas, including world premiere of The Cure, at Aldeburgh Festival in Snape, England. MORE

Jun. 15, 2015

Zachary Woolfe reviews premiere of Marco Tutiino and Fabio Cesresa opera, Two Women, adopted from Alberto Moravia's novel, at San Francisco Opera. MORE

Jun. 13, 2015

James R Oestreich reviews performances of several Monteverdi operas at Boston Early Music Festival. MORE

Jun. 12, 2015

Anthony Tommasini reviews New York Philharmonic dramatic staging of Honegger oratorio Joan of Arc at the Stake, starring Marion Cotillard and featuring singers of New York Choral Artists, at Avery Fisher Hall. MORE

Jun. 11, 2015

Anthony Tommasini reviews On Site Opera production of 1782 Giovanni Paisiello opera The Barber of Seville, starring David Blalock and Monica Yunus, at Fabbri Mansion. MORE

Jun. 8, 2015

Anthony Tommasini reviews premiere of Opera Philadelphia production of Charlie Parker's Yardbird, opera by Daniel Schnyder and Bridgette A Wimberly, starring tenor Lawrence Brownlee, at Perelman Theater, in Philadelphia. MORE

Jun. 2, 2015

Lawyers in the case said that they were exploring whether the company could be reorganized so it could emerge from bankruptcy and accept a multimillion dollar bequest from a benefactor. MORE

Jun. 1, 2015

Anthony Tommasini reviews premiere of Matthew Aucoin opera Crossing by American Repertory Theater and Music-Theater Group, starring baritone Rod Gilfry and tenor Alexander Lewis, with music by A Far Cry chamber orchestra, at Shubert Theater in Boston. MORE

May. 31, 2015

Rising bel canto star Lawrence Brownlee will portray Charlie Parker in world premier of Opera Philadelphia production of Daniel Schnyder opera Charlie Parker's Yardbird; Brownlee faced challenge of learning how to scat for the role. MORE

May. 31, 2015

Matthew Aucoin, 25-year-old composer, conductor, poet, pianist and critic, is thought by many to be most promising operatic talent in years, but some close to him worry that he may become overextended or overexposed too early. MORE

May. 29, 2015

May. 25, 2015

Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim reviews concert version of George Lewis's upcoming opera Afterword, the AACM (as) Opera, performed by International Contemporary Ensemble and trio of soloists, at Roulette in Brooklyn. MORE

May. 21, 2015

Cubanacan: A Revolution of Forms, opera about Fidel Castro and Che Guevara playing golf shortly after Cuban revolution, will premiere during Havana Biennial; is written and produced by American filmmaker Charles Koppelman with music by distinguished Cuban composer Roberto Valera. MORE

May. 18, 2015

May. 18, 2015

Michael White Critic's Notebook contemplates theatrical tradition of 'trouser roles,' male characters sung by mezzo-sopranos; spotlights British mezzo Alice Coote, female who has sung many male roles and performed dramatized recital of Handel works during May 2015 Brighton Festival. MORE

May. 12, 2015

Michael White reviews English National Opera production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, directed by playwright, film and stage director Mike Leigh and starring Joshua Bloom and Jonathan Lemalu. MORE

May. 10, 2015

Zachary Woolfe assesses quality of Metropolitan Opera's offerings for the 2014-15 season, after attending each opera at least once; suggests company's general manager Peter Gelb should appoint someone as artistic director or director of productions. MORE

May. 4, 2015

James R Oestreich Critic's Notebook describes highlights from final days of Carnegie Hall's early-music festival Before Bach, including Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists' performance of 17th-century opera L'Orfeo. MORE

Apr. 28, 2015

Apr. 27, 2015

James R Oestreich reviews performances by British classical music group I Fagiolini at Carnegie Hall and Juilliard Opera production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at Peter Jay Sharp Theater; Vivien Schweitzer reviews recital by pianist Richard Goode at Carnegie Hall. MORE

Apr. 26, 2015

The $50,000 prize, which commemorates Tucker, the great Brooklyn-born tenor, was the latest in a series of accolades for Ms. Barton, a rising star. MORE

Apr. 26, 2015

Avant-garde composer Peter Eotvos's new one-act opera Senza Sangue will premiere in Cologne, Germany, as part of New York Philharmonic's European tour before show at Avery Fisher Hall; after swearing off opera, it is his 10th. MORE

There are no additional abstracts to display.

A Brief History of Opera

The Baroque (1600-1750)

Europe in the 17th century was host to a great rise in dramatic theater. In England this dramatic revival was led by the works of William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe; in France, by Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine. In Italy, however, this movement was not in the spoken word but rather in a new form that combined drama with music — opera. The very first opera is generally considered to be “Daphne,” composed in 1591 by Jacopo Peri (1561-1633). The early operas were referred to as “drama through music,” and their plots were typically based on myth, much like their inspiration, the classic dramas of ancient Greece and Rome; later operas most often concerned themselves with historical figures.

These first operas did not yet fully integrate music and drama. Half-sung passages, called recitatives, alternated with orchestral interludes and choruses that commented on the dramatic events. Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) contributed more to the development of the opera form in the 17th century than anyone else. He established the fully sung aria (in place of the earlier recitative) and used a larger and richer-sounding orchestra. Monteverdi’s work (“Orfeo,” “The Coronation of Poppea”) became a model for the operatic composers who followed and helped to bring opera to the masses, first in Venice and then throughout Europe.

By the 18th century opera had become the most widely cultivated musical form, with most major composers contributing to the repertory. The later Baroque period saw the cultivation of several different operatic styles, including opera seria (serious opera) and opera buffa (comic opera). Notable during this period were the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully in France and the nearly 50 powerful operas by George Frederick Handel, among them “Rinaldo,” “Giulio Cesare” (Julius Caesar) and “Orlando.”

The Classical Period (1750-1820)

Opera underwent many important changes in the Classical era. By the late Baroque period, Italian opera had become a series of overly wrought arias designed to display the talents of superstar singers. As a reaction to the perceived vocal excess, Classical composers cut back on the ornamentation, reintroduced instrumental interludes and accompaniments between arias and made greater use of choral singing. They also sought to combine groups of recitatives, arias, duets, choruses and instrumental sections into unified scenes.

The most important reformer during the Classical era was Christoph Willibald von Gluck (1714-87). In his works, including “Orfeo et Eurydice” and “Iphigénie en Tauride,” the music served the drama, without interruption by unnecessary orchestral passages or florid singing.

The reformation movement climaxed in the stage works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in which every aspect of the vocal and instrumental portions contributed to the overall plot development and characterization. In Mozart’s operas, like “Le Nozze de Figaro” (The Marriage of Figaro) and “Don Giovanni,” the music for each character is distinct in tone and style from the other characters, and the action is reflected in the structure of the work.

The Romantic Period (1820-1900)

Even with the introduction of new instrumental forms, opera remained the most popular music of the 19th century. During the Romantic period, the art of opera reached its zenith, producing grand spectacles and offering many showcases for spectacular singing. In every way, Romantic operas were longer, bigger and more majestic than their Classical-era counterparts.

Characteristic of the new Romantic opera was the French grand opéra. This type of work — like Hector Berlioz’s epic “Les Troyens” — was not only longer in duration than previous French opera, but also employed more musicians, more artists, more stagehands and more technicians. This style was supplemented by drama lyrique, a more lyrical and sentimental style typified by Gounod’s “Faust.”

In Italy, Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (1792-1868) introduced a new style known as bel canto (literally “beautiful singing”). This new style of opera featured complex and ornate melodic lines (which vocalists could ornament at will), simple harmonic structure and musical numbers that combined to make composite scenes.

His countryman Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) introduced a new realism and intensity of expression to the form; his operas, like “Rigoletto” and “La Traviata,” combined rhythmic vitality with superbly crafted melodies to great popular acclaim.

In Germany, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) advanced the majestic “music drama,” which combined elements from Greek tragedy and the symphonies of Beethoven intro a dramatic whole that was referred to as “Gesamtkunstwerk” (“Complete Artwork”). Wagner’s operas, most notably “Tristan und Isolde” and the four-opera cycle “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” pushed the boundaries of traditional tonality and impelled the art form to a larger scale. His ground-breaking work changed the nature of opera and influenced virtually all musical forms for decades to come.

The 20th Century

Opera in the first half of the 20th century continued to be influenced by the works of the Romantic era. Richard Strauss, who bridged the Romantic and modern eras, composed intense works that reflected the tremendous influence of Wagner. Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), with works like “Tosca,” “La Boheme,” “Madama Butterfly” and “Turandot,” continued the Italian grand opera tradition of Verdi and Rossini.

World War II proved to be a turning point for 20th-century opera, with postwar composers seeking to revitalize the form that had apparently come to a conclusion with the outbreak of hostilities in Europe. These newer composers, led by Benjamin Britten (1913-76), breathed new life into opera by judiciously integrating other 20th-century movements into the established art form.

Britten himself often worked outside opera’s conventional boundaries, writing operas for children, for the church, and even for television. Later composers, like Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933) and Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007), further pushed opera’s musical boundaries, while Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) and Douglas Moore (1893-1969) injected American musical styles into the form.

At the dawn of the 21st century, composers like Philip Glass (b. 1937) and John Adams (b. 1947) continued to change the face of opera, introducing multimedia elements, political commentary, rock music and other unconventional elements. — From “The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge”

The 21st Century

One of the biggest news stories in recent years was the death on Sept. 6, 2007, at age 71, of Luciano Pavarotti, the Italian singer whose ringing, pristine sound set a standard for operatic tenors of the post-World War II era.

Like Enrico Caruso and Jenny Lind before him, Mr. Pavarotti extended his presence far beyond the limits of Italian opera. He became a titan of pop culture. Millions saw him on television and found in his expansive personality, childlike charm and generous figure a link to an art form with which many had only a glancing familiarity.

But perhaps the most important development was the effort by Peter Gelb, who took over as the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in 2006, to move opera outside the confines of the opera house, bring it into the digital age and take it to a wider audience. He instituted a program of enormously popular live high-definition transmissions of broadcasts to movie theaters worldwide, as well as the Met’s lively 24-hour station on Sirius satellite radio.

In October 2008, Mr. Gelb announced that the Met would start making many video and audio broadcasts available for Internet streaming on demand, through a service called Met Player.

{"type":"article","show_header_text":false,"header":"ARTICLES ABOUT OPERA","query":"(nytddes = \"Opera\" or org like \"Metropolitan Opera\" or org like \"New York City Opera\" or org like \"Lyric Opera of Chicago\" or org like \"San Francisco Opera\" or org like \"Glimmerglass Opera\" or org like \"Seattle Opera\" or org like \"Bayreuth Festival\")","search_query":"(nytddes:\"Opera\" OR organizations.contains:\"Metropolitan Opera\" OR organizations.contains:\"New York City Opera\" OR organizations.contains:\"Lyric Opera of Chicago\" OR organizations.contains:\"San Francisco Opera\" OR organizations.contains:\"Glimmerglass Opera\" OR organizations.contains:\"Seattle Opera\" OR organizations.contains:\"Bayreuth Festival\")","num_search_articles":"50","show_summary":true,"show_byline":true,"show_pub_date":true,"hide_thumbnails":false,"show_kicker":false,"show_title":false,"show_related_topics":true,"show_rad_links":true,"show_subtopics":true,"exclude_topics":"OPERA;MUSIC;CLASSICAL MUSIC","more_on_header":"MORE ON OPERA AND:","alternate_index_subidx":"","show_thumbnails":true}

A 71-year-old Jeep rolled in, and later out, at the Viennese Opera Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria on Friday, a charity gala that was celebrating its own 60th anniversary as well as the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Austrian state treaty.

City Opera is trying to overcome a cash crisis threatening its survival. The company is warning that it will have to cancel the remainder of this season and its next season if it fails to raise $20 million by year’s end.